I have seen many references to a list of countries having reciprocal rights with the Philippines allowing them to bid as a foreign entity under section 23.5.1.2 of the IRR-A. however, I have not been able to locate this list. Does anybody know where to find this list?

We are a branch office of a US company that has been operating under government contracts. We are now required to bid under the IRR-A and we have been told that we are not eligible as a foreign entity. Setting up a new, locally owned company to take over the existing operations (in continuous operation for 15 years now) will also not comply with the IRR-A due to a lack of experience etc. of the newly formed entity.

I would presume that a US company would be exempted from the Philippine ownership criterion under the reciprocal rights clause since so many Filipinos are active and prosperous in the US economy. Is that assumption correct?

bill61 wrote:I have seen many references to a list of countries having reciprocal rights with the Philippines allowing them to bid as a foreign entity under section 23.5.1.2 of the IRR-A. however, I have not been able to locate this list. Does anybody know where to find this list?

We are a branch office of a US company that has been operating under government contracts. We are now required to bid under the IRR-A and we have been told that we are not eligible as a foreign entity. Setting up a new, locally owned company to take over the existing operations (in continuous operation for 15 years now) will also not comply with the IRR-A due to a lack of experience etc. of the newly formed entity.

I would presume that a US company would be exempted from the Philippine ownership criterion under the reciprocal rights clause since so many Filipinos are active and prosperous in the US economy. Is that assumption correct?

Bill

Bill:

As of now there is no such list yet, although that particular section you mentioned (Section 23.5.1.2 of the revised IRR, not IRR-A which has been effectively repealed by it), particularly item (b) thereof, referred to an Annex "I" to be issued by the GPPB which should be a listing of countries which have reciprocal rights with the Philippines. Unfortunately, up to now the GPPB has not yet issued that Annex "I".

In the absence of that list from the GPPB, you can get that information from our own Department of Foreign Affairs (the equivalent of your State Department). However, if your company is in the United States, I am pretty sure that the US has reciprocal rights with our country.

The DFA also does not have the magic list of eligible countries, so I contacted the US embassy for a letter stating reciprocal rights for Filipinos in the US. So far so good. However, the letter arrived after the bidding closed so we were deemed ineligible despite meeting all other requirements.

We were the only bidder, so bidding was declared 'failed'.

In the GPPB document “GUIDELINES IN THE DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF FOREIGN SUPPLIERS, CONTRACTORS, AND CONSULTANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT PROJECTS” it is written:

5.3 If despite the availability of the goods sought to be procured, no local supplier is interested to participate in the procurement process, the head of the procuring entity shall certify that it has advertised the same for public bidding and shall make a statement that no local supplier participated in the bidding and that the same is due to reasons not attributable to the procuring entity.

Since no other company bid (or otherwise showed interest) does this mean that we are eligible? The BAC has ignored my request for an explanation and have rescheduled a second round of bidding with the apparent hope of another failed bidding.